SHENZHEN-BASED telecommunication company ZTE on Sunday announced it has signed a contract with top Spanish soccer team Sevilla to become the club’s Official Technological Partner and smartphone provider.

    The announcement of the agreement with the reigning Europe League champions and finalist of this season’s King’s Cup, was made in Barcelona on the eve of the Mobile World Congress, which opens yesterday.

    “ZTE is proud to be the new official technological partner of Sevilla FC, one of the greatest soccer teams known around the world,” said ZTE CEO, Jacky Zhang, adding that his company and the soccer club “shared the same vision for passion, creativity and dedication.”

    “I hope Sevilla fans also become fans of ZTE,” he said. The agreement will see the club and company carry out various joint acts, both with supporters and on social network sites, and the placing of publicity for ZTE in various parts of Sevilla’s Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium.

    Meanwhile Sevilla President, Jose Castro Carmona, said he was “convinced” the agreement would benefit both parties “tremendously.”

    The agreement follows a strategy which has brought ZTE success in the United States, where it is the technological partner of basketball teams such as the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks, the Houston Rockets and the Chicago Bulls.

    Meanwhile the company will bring a roadshow to Europe in the coming months with the “Experience Bus” which will visit five countries and 15 cities in two months, offering the public the chance to try some of ZTE’s most up to date hardware.

    ZTE, one of the global leaders in the mobile handset manufacturing industry, plans to expand its number of overseas stores from 30,000 to 50,000 by the end of 2016. This will allow ZTE to deliver quality mobile devices to an even larger group of audience.(Xinhua)